Donna
My sister Donna drove her motorhome to Flagstaff a few days ago and camped three days with me in the Coconino National Forest. While she was there we rode on Honda up to Lowell Observatory and took a guided tour of the restored original telescope. It was quite interesting but we both agreed the tour guide was a little too talkative. He told us detailed history of the Lowell family way back to the 1600’s. He also talked way to much about how the observatory was run on donations, and how much he would appreciate it if we could leave some money in the box on our way out. We figured the price we paid for admission was a little high and we had donated enough. We didn’t stay too long because we were both hungry and we worried that Hanna would be hot in Donna’s motorhome.
We stopped at Wendy’s for a baked potato and then headed back to our camp. It was still cool in Donna’s motorhome so Hanna was fine.
North Rim overlook
On Sunday we drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, stopping briefly at Marble Canyon and waving hello to the Vermillion Cliffs as we drove by. The temperature through there was brutal so we made tracks to the high country of the North Kaibab National Forest as quick as we could.
The worst part of the drive was the wind. I would never intentionally drive in wind as bad as we saw today. Both our rigs are pretty high-profile and the gusts knocked us around all the way here. The last part of the drive was directly into the wind and I’m sure my gas mileage was cut in half. We were both exhausted by the time we found our campsite and could finally relax.
We are only a few miles from the National Park entrance so Honda will take us the rest of the way in. While we were camping in Flagstaff, we ran into a couple that I had met before in Quartzsite. They had planned to meet us here at the North Rim but so far we can’t find them. There is no cell service here.
When we arrived at our little campsite here in the Kaibab and set up camp, Donna remarked, “No wonder you don’t want to break camp and move every day. You have a lot of stuff to set up!”
She is right. After I find my parking spot I have to get out and assemble my satellite dish, wire and aim it, then carry my solar panels out and run the wires, weight everything down with rocks so they don’t blow away, hook up my propane extend-a-tank, and finally unload my motorcycle. After that I can start working on the inside. She sets out her rug and chair and is pretty much done.
We did meet up with our friends at the Canyon and they joined us for two days at our camp. Buffalo hunting season starts on Friday so it was time to get out of here and head north. Next stop Bryce Canyon National Park.
Too bad our North Rim schedules didn’t match up.